Water theme parks have become popular in recent years. Water theme parks generally consist of water rides and often provide other water related activities.
An attraction that has become popular at many water theme parks throughout the country is the wave pool. Wave pools are typically man-made bodies of water wherein a wave generator is located at one end of the pool, and a simulated beach is located at the other end, wherein waves are created by the wave generator that travel across the pool and break onto the beach. In particular, attempts have been made to create spilling, breaking waves using mechanical wave generators that are designed to push large amounts of water back and forth in the pool. This movement is created on the deep end of the pool and involves creating waves that travel toward the opposite shallower end where the waves break. These generators are often driven by motors, such as those that are mechanically, pneumatically, or hydraulically operated.
While many different methods have been attempted, one of the shortcomings of wave pools is that they typically create waves by moving water back and forth, and therefore, can only create a single wave at a time. That is, in most wave pools, only a single periodic wave can be created by the wave generator at any given moment in time, wherein the passage of time is required between successive waves. This requires one wave to pass before another is created. Although different sized and shaped beaches can be provided, and wave frequencies can be increased, only one wave is created at one time. In such circumstances, particularly when wave pools are crowded, there is often little space or opportunity for participants to ride the waves. Either the occupancy of the wave pool must be limited, or larger wave pools with additional wave generating capacity must be provided, in order for more people to enjoy the waves.
Conventional wave pools also typically only have a single sloped beach area upon which the waves will break. In such case, people who want to perform water skimming maneuvers in the shallow areas near the beach often have to share the same space with those who simply want to wade, such as children and the elderly, which can disadvantageously increase the risk of accident and create an overcrowded situation within the pool.
The unavailability of usable space within the wave pool also makes it difficult to create surfable quality waves and for participants to take advantage of the waves that are produced. In conventional wave pools, water is moved back and forth on one end of the pool, and the waves created by this movement must travel across the pool, and then be acted upon by the inclined surface of the pool floor (for the waves to form and eventually break). In this respect, there must be sufficient length within the pool for the waves to travel far enough to curl and finally spill onto the beach. Also, even if surfable quality waves can be created, competition for space within the pool can make it difficult for participants to perform surfing and skimming maneuvers on the waves that are created.
In view of the limitations of existing wave pools, as outlined above, the invention described herein is concerned with a wave pool that produces various wave formations on which water skimming and surfing maneuvers can be performed, and that increases the number and variety of wave formations that can be created, so that participants with different interests and skills can co-exist and play at the same time in the same pool.